Infections are not supposed to be the souvenir patients take home from knee surgery. Yet about a half-dozen people who say they developed stubborn bacterial infections after procedures at a West Knoxville ambulatory surgery center are now splitting their time between doctors’ offices and courtrooms. The infections, identified as Mycobacterium fortuitum and tied to 2023 knee surgeries, triggered state scrutiny, a consent order and a wave of civil lawsuits. Patients and their attorneys describe long, expensive recoveries involving repeated operations, months of antibiotics and, for several, extensive reconstructive work.
Settlements and ongoing claims
According to court filings and settlement documents, several patient couples, including Anthony and Sybil Cannon, Rick and Jenny Stimac, David and Carol Tomljanovich, Avis and Roland Lussier, Kenneth and Janice Thomas, and Jeffery and Tammy Casteel, are listed as having reached private settlements with some defendants, as reported by WBIR. The same coverage notes that court records show certain claims against corporate defendants have been dismissed, while other patients are still pushing for trials and damages that name physicians and management firms as defendants. Many of the plaintiffs are represented by the Knoxville law firm Pryor, Priest, Harber, Floyd & Coffey, according to filings and interviews.
What doctors found
Clinicians at Vanderbilt who treated several of the sick patients later documented what they were seeing in a published case series that links a cluster of severe prosthetic-joint infections to contaminated water at an ambulatory surgical center. As reported in Arthroplasty Today, the infections caused aggressive soft-tissue and bone damage, forced multiple revision surgeries and required prolonged combination antibiotic regimens. Those clinical details help explain why the lawsuits seek substantial awards to cover continuing medical care and long-term disability.
State review and managerial changes
State regulators moved in after patient complaints, then documented corrective steps in inspection records. The center has since been classified as back in substantial compliance. Tennessee Orthopaedic Alliance took over operational control of the Parkwest ambulatory site in April 2024, and industry reports say the group identified and removed a staff member it believed was the likely source of the problem and tightened infection-control practices. Becker's ASC also notes that there have been no linked Mycobacterium cases reported after April 2024.
Legal picture and what’s next
Multiple lawsuits are now on file in Knox County Circuit Court. Some claims have resolved quietly through private settlements, while others remain very much alive and could take months or even years to reach a jury. Legal filings and commentary show plaintiffs are seeking damages for medical expenses, lost earnings, and long-term disability. Defense attorneys, for their part, have raised comparative-fault arguments and statute-of-limitations defenses. For a plain-language rundown of how the litigation has unfolded and who is representing whom, see Law Commentary.
For West Knoxville patients, the episode has turned into a cautionary tale about the stakes of outpatient joint surgery and the slow grind of legal accountability. The next big moves will likely show up as new entries on court dockets, fresh settlement notices, or additional agency actions, all of which will shape who ultimately pays the tab. In the meantime, anyone worried about a past procedure at the center is urged to hang on to medical records and talk with their treating physician or an attorney about possible next steps.
